Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

We are getting close now...the Apple Store is down now, a prerequisite to anything newsworthy coming out of Job’s jowls.  What will be outed today?  Hinted at?  And how about that “one more thing”? 

I’ve no freaking idea, but I am as giddy as a schoolgirl.  So, I’ll leave it to the Apple experts over at Appletell to let me know.  You can check out their best guesses, er predictions here.

Remember, you can also catch the live blog at Appletell as well.  We’ll talk about the big stuff here at Gadgetell, rest assured, but if you live and breath the Apple life, check out Appletell’s in depth coverage.  Throwing a Digg their way doesn’t hurt either.

Tomorrow, I’ll be tuned into Appletell’s live coverage of Macworld 2008 and the all-important Stevenote.  The Appletell team, our sister site, is aiming at live blogging, twittering, possible live audio feed, along with images and interviews etc. as the week goes on.  This will be Appletell’s finest hour and I hope you join me in experiencing the event via Appletell.

You can visit Appletell’s Macworld page here.  Their live coverage of Steve Job’s theatrics should start shortly before 9am PST.

Here’s to working EVDO cards, good cell reception and slow-talking speakers.

Read: [Appletell]

And we’re officially live here at the Bill Gates press conference.  We’ve taken our seats, and are waiting until the 6:00 PST start time.  Adam and Robert are hustling over here so we can get some group live-blogging going.

As usual during live blogs, hit the F5 key on your computer or just hit the refresh button and follow along in real-time.  Hit the MORE link below to follow along.

MORE »

Check out the gallery: CES 2008 Keynote: Bill Gates, the final CES address

Earlier today, Nintendo’s Miyamoto took the stage at this year’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.  Here’s the run-down of the keynote…

Miyamoto talked about the evolution of his wife interacting with Nintendo game consoles.  He refers to this as the “Wife-o-Meter.” The more they can get the wife’s to interact with the console, the more successful the console is.  He starts talking about how back in the day when Tetris, Mario, and Link were hot stuff, his wife was not affected at all.  He then moves on to Nintendogs and says that raised the Wife-o-Meter a bit.  And then Brain Age - and now gaming is a part of her everyday life.  Now she is challenging him in her favorite games.

Moving on, Miyamoto talked about how great of a job the three main teams (hardware, software, and third-party relations) did at collaborating on the Nintendo Wii.  He talks about how the decision to move forward with the Wii Remote (AKA Wiimote) was made possible by all of the above.

Lastly, he spoke about Risk.  Miyamoto speaks of how the Gamecube was “really a half-step” into the whole idea of making Nintendo mainstream.  They tried to make it even easier than ever before to have new gamers pick up the controler and actually play.  And finally came the Wii, the biggest risk of them all.

Miyamoto moved on to the communication involved in the Wii.  He mentions how character creation is not a new idea (Mii), but he is working on a new Mii channel that compares Miis you’ve created to hold popularity contests among users/your friends.

He finishes up saying how it’s just a matter of time before everyone becomes a convert.  “If we can convert my wife, I believe we can convert anyone.”

Read the full play-by-play [Gizmodo]

Now you may not have even known it in the first place, but until yesterday, Apple was known in the corporate world as Apple Computer, Inc.  Steve Jobs made the announcement in his much-anticipated keynote address at this year’s Macworld.  The reason they decided to change it was likely because they’ve gone from soley a computer company to a company that focuses on other consumer electronics, evident by their committment to the iPod brand.  And if you didn’t hear already, Jobs also announced a new phone to join the ranks of the iPod called the Apple iPhone.

Live-blog of Steve Jobs’ keynote [Gadgetell]

Photo courtesy Engadget.

Come one, come all, we’re getting ready for another Gadgetell Live-blog - this time with Apple CEO, Steve Jobs.

Welcome to the live coverage of Apple’s Macworld 2007 keynote presentation. Speculation has been high and rumors flying for weeks on end, what will we be seeing today? Stay tuned and keep tabbing away at the F+5 keys (to refresh the page) for live, up to the minute updates.

8:55 AM - Jobs is set to take stage in 5 minutes.

8:59 AM - The keynote will begin after everyone is seated - just a few minutes to go

9:00 AM - Someone just pointed out that Steve Jobs brought his family to the keynote

9:06 AM - Attendees still taking their seats

9:08 AM - *Crowd cheers*

9:14 AM - Steve on stage

9:18 AM - Jobs: “We’re only talking about the Mac today”

9:20 AM - iTunes: over 2 billion songs sold

9:21 AM - iTunes: 58 songs a second, 5 million a day.

9:21 AM - 350 shows on iTunes now, 50 million TV shows sold

9:22 AM - New movie partner - Paramount. Over 250 movies offered now.

9:25 AM - New iPod ad shown with colored silhouettes on a black background

9:25 AM - Now Jobs is targeting the Zune “Only has 2 percent market share”

9:28 AM - Apple iTV, Apple TV. SPECS: USB2.0, RCA, Component Video, 720p HD, 40GB HDD, B,G and N wireless, Intel Powered - Uses standard Apple remote.

It has an Intel processor in it, and will auto sync from your Mac/PC.

9:30 AM - Apple TV: Use iTunes to sync movies from Mac to iTV - place what movies you want on iTV’s local store. Auto Syncs to your computer - STREAMS HD content

9:32 AM - Apple TV Demo

9:40 AM - Apple TV $299. Shipping in February - taking orders starting today

9:41 AM - Apple logo on screen (2007). Jobs: “every once in a while a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything. Apple has been very fortunate recently...”

9:42 AM -
1984 - first mac
2001 first ipod
today - introducing 3 revolutionary products

9:42 AM -

1. Widescreen iPod

2. Mobile phone

3. Internet communicator

9:43 AM - But these three products will not be separate..one device for all three functions.

9:46 AM - revolutionary interface - interplay of hardware and software
showing treo & blackberry, etc.

9:48 AM - Use fingers to operate it. Uses multi-touch and works like magic. It ignores unintended touches, and is patented just for Apple.

9:49 AM - iPhone runs OS X.

9:50 AM - It has everything you need, core animation, desktop class applications on phone, and networking.

Syncs with iTunes, just like iPod. Syncs all your media on your iPhone.

9:52 AM - Has a cradle to sync just like an iPod dock.

9:53 AM - 3.5 inch screen - highest res screen ever shipped. 11/16” thin, it even has a 2mp camera on the back.

9:54 AM - Proximity sensor. When you bring it to your ear, it automatically turns off display and sound.

9:54 AM - It can tell if held in portrait vs landscape - rotate it.

9:55 AM - You can touch your music with Coverflow to help find it faster.

10.00 AM - iPhone Demo

10.04 AM - It’s a Quad band worldphone with Wi-Fi and bluetooth. Only features EDGE

10.06 AM - To make a call: push phone button on bottom (on screen) and the screen changes like coming out of dashboard, scroll through contacts, push person’s number to call.

10.08 AM - Simply hit another button to add someone and start a conference call.

10.10 AM - First call to Ives and Schiller - On Speaker phone. “Not too shabby”

10.11 AM - There is a button for multiple session SMS messaging.

10.12 AM - When typing messages, letters come up to face you like old typewriter, cool effect. When you send them, they make the familiar iChat sending sound.

10.14 AM - Photos: Just like iPhoto - Finger navigation. Auto rotation of pictures

10.16 AM - Email: POP or IMAP supports both Rich Text and HTML

As a bonus, Yahoo mail is providing Full PUSH IMAP mail to all phone customers for free (Something that is not available to any Yahoo customer).

10.18 AM - Web Browser: Safari (Full version with Java)

10.20 AM - Mail looks just like Apple’s desktop mail

10.24 AM - Again auto sensing devices orientation switched how a webpage is displayed: Shows New York Times as an example

10.25 AM - Change webpages by using the coverflow view to get to different page.

10.26 AM - Side Note: Apple stock currently up $2.43.

10.27 AM - Widgets: Uses standard MacOSX widgets

10.29 AM - Shows Google intergration to the iPhone, find a location and click the phone number to dial

10.31 AM - Google CEO Eric Schmidt on stage now.

10.34 AM - “This is the first of a whole new generation...” -Schmidt.

10.41 AM - Draws comparisons to other ‘smart phones’ on the market.

10.44 AM - iPhone Features: 5 hours of battery life, 16 hours just for audio, bluetooth headset (optional), multitouch screen, precision enclosures, sensors, desktop-class apps, and widescreen interface.

10.45 AM - Innovating like crazy,
over 200 patents in it.

10.47 AM - Price: 4GB model - $499, 8GB model - $599.

10.48 AM - Available: shipping in June. Europe by Cal4 this year, and Asia in 2008.

10.50 AM - Carrier is Cingular - purchase at Apple or Cingular stores.

10.59 AM - Apple Computer, inc renamed to - Apple, inc,

11.00 AM - The Keynote should be finishing now, but it looks as if Steve still has a lot more coming..stay tuned.

11.03 AM - John Mayer - Playing Live Music

11.10 AM - Steve back on stage, Thanks for joining us. Show is over - James Brown’s “I feel good” comes back on - the keynote is now over.

We’re here live at the CES keynote of Motorola CEO Ed Zander and President of the CEA Gary Schapiro.

NOTE: You know the drill, punch the F5 key for frequent updates - and by frequent, I mean every couple of minutes.

8:40 PM PST - Gary Schapiro has now taken the stage, doing his usual shpeal about the CEA.

Technology companies “changes the status quo"… and “bring new life and features into familiar products.”

Continue reading after the jump…

Note that the connection here is off and on (just like last night’s Bill Gates Keynote, so if we get disconnected, stand by and we’ll update you shortly as we’re saving local copies just in case).

8:47 PM PST - He’s now giving examples of how we have progressed in consumer electronics.  From Cable, to VCR, to Digital Cameras, to Word Processors, to FM Radio.

8:50 PM PST - Schapiro is talking about all of the technologies that they’re partnering with to empower consumers.

“We are now accessing what even the rich could not access just years ago”

8:55 PM PST - Schapiro is now talking about piracy and outing the RIAA / MPAA for their stance.  “Consumers should not be in legal jeopardy if they copy something and keep it in the home."..."That’s why we have launched the Digital Freedom campaign” (http://www.digitalfreedom.org).

“In the end, we will listen to the voices of the machines.”

8:59 PM PST - “And now, I’m happy to present the featured keynote speaker"…

9:02 PM PST - Gary just finished talking and says Ed will come out after a video… of course a promo video with an Ed Zander montage just like the Bill Gates one last night.

9:04 PM PST - Ed just came out rolling on a bike… what a baller.  He also just took out one of the original mobile phones, the Dynatec 8000 I think.  He said..."We’re all into thin… but guess what?  Fat is back.”

9:09 PM PST - He’s now talking about how phones have gotten so personal.  “Nothing is as ubiquidous as this device” (cell phone).

9:12 PM PST - Zander is now talkig about how WiMax is coming… and it’s coming fast.  Sprint/Nextel, he points out, is taking a big lead in this market.

Now he is talking about their new MotaPhone technology and making displays with eInk so you can see them in broad sunlight.

9:15 PM PST - He is now holding an HSDPA 3.6 megabits per second phone.  Talking about how that is the future.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have Mobile Internet in your pocket or in your phone?

9:17 PM PST - Yahoo! and Motorola are now partnering and they’re playing a promo video.  The Yahoo exec will arrive momentarily.

Marco Boerries of Yahoo is now out on stage.

They are announcing Yahoo! Go 2.0 - fully personalizable and open to the whole internet.

9:22 PM PST - Yahoo Go brings the Internet to your phone, not your phone to the Internet. - “Truly the internet in your pocket.”

Marco and his helper are showing off Yahoo Go.  They’re showing the new product OneSearch, which he just announced.  Go will keep your mail fully synchronized.

Local and location awareness are a big part of Yahoo Go.

9:22 PM PST - What about sports?  Marco is now bringing up sports scores and information with “one click” - I’m sure it was more than one click.

You can also manage your personal stock portfolio.

And you can search and it comes up instantaneously with content.  He just searched Boeing, and Britney - must have B’s on his mind.  He just made the joke, “You get search results and pictures - whether you want them or not.”

9:25 PM PST - You can get it at go.yahoo.com from your mobile device (bringing the Internet to your phone, not vice versa) and it will be available on over 400 devices by the end of the year.

9:29 PM PST - ROKR E6 - he just introduced it in Hong Kong - “It’s bigger than Brad Pitt over there.”

Chris White is coming out to announce new CE devices.

New Motorola Active Stereo Bluetooth headsets… They’re waterproof - you can control your music from the device itself instead of using the handset.

9:31 PM PST - Last year they started a partnership with Kodak to get pictures that are trapped on devices onto paper.

9:34 PM PST - White just announced a partnership with Warner Music in 2008.  With them, they created the Moto Experience Pack to get information about emerging artists.

The new Moto RIZR Z6 - New MotoMusic UI - Buy music from over 200 stores worldwide.  Built on their Linux platform - stereo bluetooth.  White says he uses MTV Urge “personally” - I doubt that.

9:41 PM PST - We’d like to introduce our newest acquisition - Good Technologies.

Corp. VP of Good Tech Danny Shader has just joined Ed Zander on stage. They now have full collaboration with Outlook - Good Email.  He’s now looking at his Outlook calendar - doesn’t look at all like the traditional PDA calendar - it has agenda view, visual view, etc.

Notes in Outlook, folders, etc. sync in real-time - “No compromise mobile experience with a killer application.”

9:46 PM PST - “Today we’re announcing our partnership with NewsGator to provide RSS on your Moto phone.

9:48 PM PST - What about multimedia, and how do we tie that into the device?

Security - we encrypt everything that’s on the device.  And if you lose your device, the data can be wiped out over the air..."So what’s left in Vegas, doesn’t stay in Vegas” - [laugh].

9:52 PM PST - We’re now looking at a demo of their new Follow Me technology (same name as Netgear’s exact same service - very weird) - FollowMe Music, and FollowMe Photos - FollowMe TV will be launched by Comcast this year, and Verizon is already doing FollowMe Music.

They’ve blended the remote and the mobile device and made the Mobile Remote.  You’ve got your TV guide on the phone and you can set your DVR from your phone now.  This year, we will have an application where operators can push Ads to you - whoopee!

9:59 PM PST - Live TV is coming to devices like the Q “Soon.” IP Set-top streaming from the home (just like Slingbox).

“What you want, where you want it, when you want it.”

Moto Dual-mode handsets, roam on Cell networks, move into the house and use Wi-Fi.

10:02 PM PST - That’s it folks, he’s wrapping up now, but we wrapped it up for you so you don’t need that.  Have a good one and look forward to loads of news and press conferences later today.

As we chat about in our Apple MacWorld post (don’t forget to submit your thoughts to enter our giveaway), there is a ton of speculation regarding what Apple will do in 2007. As MacWorld 2007 quickly approaches (it begins Tuesday of next week), we are starting to get reports of what Steve Jobs will address in his keynote.

Back at Apple’s “It’s Show Time” event in September, Steve Jobs decided that it was time to reveal Apple’s entry into your living room via a home A/V wireless streaming device dubbed the “iTV.” Jobs said that the device would hit stores in Q1 of 2007 but did not provide a more precise time. AppleInsider has reason to believe that the iTV will be a part of the keynote address—we may actually even get final specs—but consumers should not expect the unit to hit stores for a few more months. It seems that Apple has run into a few snags getting Mac’s OSX operating system to run in a new media function (ala a Windows XP/Vista Media Center Edition competitor).

When released, you can expect the device to have Ethernet, USB, Wi-Fi, component video, HDMI, optical audio, and although not yet officially announced, I expect it to have an internal hard drive (to add DVR functionality), all for a price tag around $299.

The shared software foundation between Macs and iTV also paves the way for Apple to more closely tie the streaming media device to the upcoming iLife ‘07 and Leopard operating system releases, of which several features remain “top secret.” And it’s almost a sure bet that Jobs & Co. will be up for some disclosure in that regard as well come next Tuesday.

Read [AppleInsider]

Robert Iger, Walt-Disney CEO, will be one of the four major keynote speakers at next week’s CES and today we have gotten a little preview of what the man behind Mickey plans to talk about: the web. In November, the company overall ranked No. 9 among websites visited at home and work, according to Nielsen Netratings, which tracks online traffic (sites include Disney, ESPN and ABC). While ESPN is a love-it or hate-it design, most can agree that Disney.com sucks. Kids and parents everywhere will be thanking Iger, when he unveils the new design at CES.

This will be just one more step in bringing the Disney company forward from pencil-and-paper cartoons to the digital world we currently live in. Adding ABC shows to iTunes, bringing Steve Jobs and Pixar into the company, offering streaming Disney videos, joining the Blu-ray camp, and reorganizing the entire web division of the company are all steps in the right direction. I just can’t wait to see what else Iger has up his sleeve at CES, a venue at which one would not expect Disney to be a highlight.

Read [NYTimes]

Romain Moisescot has put together a bunch of montages from Steve Jobs keynotes throughout the years.  The “Boom!” video above is my personal favorite, but there’s also a bunch of other goodies over at Romain’s site.  One of the other videos (found after the break), is a montage of Stevie J talking about Microsoft.  Rather funny hearing him praise Microsoft Office back in 2001 and how he bashes the company now.

Read [Romain-Moisescot]